Two pilots chosen from the Screen Australia Fresh Blood initiative will premiere on ABC iview on 9 April, 2025.
Urvi Went to an All Girls School and Westerners are two different TV shows selected from the 2023 Fresh Blood cohort, which saw 10 creative teams craft short pilots for new screen work.
Each given $50,000 to produce their work, the 10 teams were selected from more than 400 entrants.
The Fresh Blood pilots
Urvi Went To An All Girls School
Urvi Went To An All Girls School is a coming-of-age comedy about one teen girl’s survival, with disastrous and hilarious consequences. Urvi (Urvi Majumdar) is an awkward, unpopular 16-year-old girl entering Year 11, at the painfully academic, selective public school Grogan Girls High. She desperately wants to become a famous actress, and dreams of being noticed by Hot Ryan, the hottest Year 12 at Grogan Boys.
Urvi’s school year looks doomed. Her little sister Maya has skipped a grade and joined forces with Urvi’s school bullies, her parents want her to become a doctor and the only boy she knows is her dad. That is until a Grogan Girls alumni turned soap actress named Sophie turns up out of the blue to direct the Grogan Girls and Boys combined school musical. Urvi finally sees a path to stardom – and sacrifices her other subjects (and her sanity) to pursue her dream.
Commissioned by the ABC, Urvi Went to an All Girls School is a Buxstock Entertainment production. Principal production funding from Screen Australia. Created by Urvi Majumdar. Directed by Nina Oyama. Produced by Lauren Nichols. Written by Urvi Majumdar and Nina Oyama. ABC Executive Producer Rowdie Walden. ABC Head of Entertainment: Rachel Millar
Westerners
Westerners follows three young diaspora adults navigating the chaos of life in Western Sydney, where even the simplest tasks spiral into the surreal.
Jackie (Natasha Cheng), a struggling artist, makes a deal with the Devil to cure her creative block. Taz (Sana’a Shaik) must choose between living with share house mould or, even worse, moving back in with her parents. Dulla (Ubai Dahoud) can’t walk down the street without being chased by a horde of women who all want to play matchmaker. Between existential crises and absurd misadventures, they’re just trying to live their version of an ordinary life.
Commissioned by the ABC, Westerners is from Haven’t You Done Well Productions. Principal production funding from Screen Australia. Created by Munasib Hamid and Kevin Duo Han. Directed by Munasib Hamid. Written by Kevin Duo Han and Mark Mariano. Produced by Monique Mulcahy. Executive Producers Rowdie Walden for ABC and Georgia Mappin, Sam Lingham, Max Miller, Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly, Thomas Zahariou and Zachary Ruane for Haven’t You Done Well Productions. ABC Head of Entertainment: Rachel Millar
ScreenHub: Screen Australia and ABC announce 2023 Fresh Blood recipients
Fresh Blood, which supports emerging Australian talent and innovative storytelling with funding and workshops, has previously helped launch the careers of comedians such as Aunty Donna, Nina Oyama, Freudian Nip, Fancy Boy, Michael Cusack and Skit Box.
Both Fresh Blood pilots will make their broadcast debuts on ABC TV with Urvi Went to an All Girls School premiering Wednesday 9 April at 9pm and Westerners on Wednesday 16 April at 9pm.
More about Fresh Blood (an excerpt from this interview with Vidya Rajan):
Can you tell me about the Fresh Blood process? How does it work behind the scenes?
Vidya: This is the third time the ABC has run Fresh Blood. They’re supposed to run it every two years, but I think the pandemic got in the way. Anyway, the first bit is sending in a pitch for three episode ideas that are in the same universe, or connected in some way. The idea is that your pitch should be strong enough to get picked up for a long-form series, at some point. The form you have to fill out is actually quite small, nothing too onerous. You just pitch your three ideas and the team behind it as well.
Once we found out we were in, we then attended these three-day workshops in Sydney in August with industry people who shared their knowledge. The most interesting part was learning how to do a proper budget with the legal team. Since we’re given money to make our episodes, we had to know how to use it properly and fairly. I needed that, because when it comes to Excel spreadsheets my brain just wants to go to sleep.
Do you have any advice for people wanting to write for TV?
Vidya: Oh God. I mean, it’s all been very hodge-podge. I was saying to my friend the other day, ‘It would be nice to climb the industry ladder straight up,’ because sometimes I feel like a little monkey swinging around from rung to rung instead. And she reminded me that the ladder wasn’t built for people like me. That’s not only true for people from minority backgrounds; I think it’s now true for most people – even if you have all the privilege in the world.
These old structures are very hard to get into – so maybe you want to start out by trying online sketches, or trialing a couple of different creative roles first to see which one you like better. I really don’t know any creatives who are just doing one thing now – we’re all taking on multiple roles at once. So be prepared for that. It’s not just a necessity – it also means you’ll never be bored!
ScreenHub: Fresh Blood: Vidya Rajan on pitching a wacky detective show to the ABC
